In addition to eight full-length films – including documentaries and narrative features – SHOUT will present a block of about a dozen LGBTQ-themed short films in a screening at the Alabama School of Fine Arts (ASFA) Recital Hall on Sunday at 11:30 a.m.

There are two shorts set or taking place in Alabama.

In "Hoover Road," a narrative short written and directed by Jonathan Evans, a man faces a choice about leaving Alabama and his lover for greener pastures.

"Hoover Road" is "a love story and a story about letting go of someone," Evans said in an email Friday. The character of Mark has decided he wants to leave rural Alabama to have a better life but struggles with leaving behind his lover Saul and Saul's mentally ill father, according to Evans.

The film is "very autobiographical," Evans said, "I knew my lover would never leave Alabama or be openly gay. It was hard for me to let go and move on with my life."

Wilder and Ahrnsen made "Sanctuary" when they were seniors at The University of Alabama and took a film class called "Documenting Justice," according to Ahrnsen. The class was a "a crash course in documentary filmmaking," Ahrnsen said in an email on Thursday.

"We made films about whatever social justice issue in Alabama we were passionate about," she said.

Wilder said they wanted to show that people can be gay or lesbian and still be Christians. "I think everyone struggles with identity in some way at least once in their lives," she said in the email. "For me, it was mainly growing up where many of my friends and I were LGBTQ+ or allies. I found that quite a handful of my LGTBQ+ friends were also quite religious."

The film also shows that people who are both religious and LBGTQ can find or form community, according to Wilder.

"I wanted to show people that when it comes to matters like these, you don't have to 'pick a side' and you will never be alone," she said. "You can always be who you are, believe in what you want, and you will find community who will support you no matter what."

"We wanted to show that there's a place where these two identities support each other," Ahrnsen said. "That people don't have to be at war with themselves. That forgiveness and healing is possible..

ASFA is located at 1800 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr. Blvd.

Now in its ninth year, SHOUT is once again sharing the same festival footprint downtown as the larger Sidewalk Film Festival, which also runs through Sunday.